Program allows troops to REACH for their goals

Six months ago Geoffrey Stoddard was experiencing sleeplessness, nightmares, anxiety in crowds and mechanical ticks as part of his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

THOMAS BRENNAN Daily News Staff

Six months ago Geoffrey Stoddard was experiencing sleeplessness, nightmares, anxiety in crowds and mechanical ticks as part of his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“I needed to find a purpose,” said Stoddard, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. who deployed to Marjah, Afghanistan in 2011 as a radio operator. “I was stagnant in my therapy. REACH helped me over the hump.”

REACH is formally known as Reintegrate, Educate and Advance Combatants in Healthcare and is designated to develop the wounded, ill and injured during their recovery for careers in the federal civil service in Navy medical occupations. The Naval Hospital aboard Camp Lejeune facilitates the mentoring and training of the young men and women of the program by giving them hands-on training in their desired field.

“I got involved with REACH in late January,” said Stoddard, a Marine with Wounded Warrior Battalion. “I wanted to get into the medical field. It gave me a way to get on the job training while I was going to school.”

While attending Coastal Carolina Community College, Stoddard has made the dean’s list as well as Phi Theta Kappa, an honors fraternity — all while getting on the job training part time at the Naval Hospital.

“Through REACH I have gained a lot of access to different people, their knowledge and their experiences,” Stoddard said. “I wouldn’t have gained all of that without this program.”

The program, which has 30 active students and exists at five different naval facilities, has taught him how to be a pharmacy technician, said Stoddard.

“I’ve learned a cornucopia of drugs,” Stoddard said. “I’ve learned how to mix drugs, reconstitute medications — I’ve done the job of a pharmacy technician. I’ve learned that I enjoy and want to be a technician and that I need to pursue it.”

Stoddard has taken all the classes required for his pharmacy technician exam and expects to pass in late June, he said.

“By doing REACH I have gotten to verify this is what I really want to do,” Stoddard said. “I study under (the pharmacy staff) and they get me familiar with the job. I just love it and am excited about my new career.”

One of his mentors is Lt. Nathan Magare, the outpatient division office of the Naval Hospital pharmacy.

“He came on board and knew what he wanted to do long term — to be a pharmacy technician and then a pharmacist,” said Magare, 29, of Arlington, Texas. “REACH has given him the means to make his dreams come true.”

Stoddard knows what problems to expect now that he has had hands-on experience, said Magare.

“Through the program students get familiar with medications, learn how to communicate with different types of patients and learn how to deal with medical providers,” Magare said. “Mentally he is now prepared to succeed because of REACH.”